The result came as a shock for Angela Merkel as her party had its worst result in years in the 2017 national election.

CDU won 246 seats in the Bundestag while the SPD, also had its worst result in years, won 153 seats in the parliament.

Latest RTL poll in Germany sees SDP fall to 17% — and far right AfD only four points behind. Merkel hints at forming minority government if Schulz demands too much in coalition talks — with fresh elections in October. #nocrisis

If SPD’s coalition negotiation breakthrough leads them to form a coalition government, the AfD will turn into the main opposition party of Germany.

Ever more German socialists regret the party’s ending opposition to capitalism. As inequality and injustice undercut support for the economic system, socialists who soften its harsh edges lose across Europe. The old center cannot hold.https://t.co/pmQr2FQ2RB

SPD has been in a coalition government with Angela Merkel’s CDU for 12 years. But the SPD leader Martin Schulz vowed not to get into another term of a coalition government with CDU after the party’s poor performance in the election.